ALL MALAYSIA`S 9MP PROJECTS MUST BE COMPLETED THIS YEAR - MINISTER

BUTTERWORTH (Malaysia), Jan 9 (Bernama) -- Minister in the Prime Minister's
Department Nor Mohamed Yakcop has called on all agencies and departments to
speedily resolve problems delaying the implementation of Ninth Malaysia Plan
(9MP) projects.

He reminded them that they had not the luxury of time for any delay as the
9MP would end this year.

"There should not be any more delay as all projects should be completed this
year or at the very least, should start this year because next year we are
already implementing projects under the 10th Malaysia Plan," he told reporters
after visiting the Rope Walk at Taman Selat here.

He said the attitude of certain officers who adopted a "business as usual"
approach should be changed as they had to show performance and give priority to
the people.

Meanwhile, Nor Mohamed who is also the chairman of Penang Federal
Development Committee, said a meeting with federal officers here today
identified several technical problems hampering the implementation of 9MP
projects in the state, such as land acquisition.


For instance, he said, there was a delay in the construction of a school in
the state due to the refusal of the developer to hand over a piece of land to
the government.

"The company initially agreed to hand over the land in their proposal for a
housing project but changed their mind when the project started.

"This is not fair to the people and the house-buyers," he said, adding that
the government was willing to give time to the company to sort out the matter
and would take action if it continued to be adamant on keeping the land.

-- BERNAMA